Ben Cooks Everything

The very first bread in the Bread chapter of How to Cook Everything, Olive Oil Salt Bread can be made in the food processor, takes no time to rise, and doesn’t even really need to be kneaded. It has a soft yet dense texture, if that makes any sense at all–it’s kind of like a biscuit.

All-purpose flour, salt, baking powder, water and of course olive oil are combined in the food processor til they form a ball, then popped into an oiled 8-inch skillet or baking pan, covered, and put into the oven at 375 degrees. After 20 minutes, take you off the cover and sprinkle some more salt on the top, and then 25 minutes later you have some really delicious fresh baked bread. You can also do it on a griddle, which I will have to try.

This stuff doesn’t last long, only about a day. I had some left over and getting stale quick, so I tried out Bittman’s recipe for Real Croutons. I’ve never been into croutons, really, but this is another area in which Bittman seems to want to change my ways: “The difference between real, homemade croutons and the packaged variety cannot be overstated; the former are delicious, reasonably healthful, and entirely addictive.” Basically, oil goes in a skillet, heats up, in goes some cubed day old bread, a little salt and pepper, and let it brown. That’s it; he says you can store them for about a day. Bittman’s right on this one: they don’t resemble the croutons you’d buy in a store at all.

I count myself really lucky: I love having dinner with my family. It’s not a chore, it’s not something I have to be guilted into doing. It’s something I know I’m really lucky to be able to do at all, and on top of that, enjoying it is a real added bonus. My brother’s hilarious, my dad keeps the wine flowing, and getting down with my mother in the kitchen is always a blast. The dishwasher in their new apartment is yet another added bonus.

So Saturday, my brother Jonathan and his girlfriend Eva and I decided on the spur of the moment to go over for dinner. I went to the Greenmarket to see what looked good, then came home and decided what to make. What I ended up with was littleneck clams, Jerusalem artichokes, mushrooms, spring garlic (like green garlic, but different), strawberries, arugula, and some fresh chevre. Pretty much a list of ingredients that was going to end up delicious no matter what I did to it. So I cracked open How to Cook Everything and decided on the following.

I’ve been using clams more and more, because I love them, they’re not as expensive as I initially thought, and they bring their own sauce to the party, which is always appreciated. So far I’ve made the linguine with clams twice, actually, but this was the first time I made them all by themselves. For the steamed clams recipe, you sauté some garlic and shallots in olive oil, then add the clams, then pour in some white wine, beer, or even water (I used beer). Cover, cook until they all open up, and you’re good to go.

The broth left in the bottom of the pot alone made this one worthwhile, and luckily we had the foresight to acquire a nice crusty baguette for sopping it all up when we were done with the clams.

To take advantage of strawberry season, I decided to make Bittman’s Balsamic Strawberries with Arugula salad. This recipe was a favorite of mine in the original HTCE, where it was a desert of just the strawberries, but I was intrigued by the combination of the bitter arugula and the sweet berries. Bittman says you can add some fresh goat cheese as well, so I figured I may as well do that too (in retrospect, though, I’d leave it out next time–I don’t think it added much to the salad).

You cut up the strawberries and let them soak in a bit of balsamic vinegar (this is a recipe where its worth it to use really good vinegar) and a tiny bit of pepper, for about ten minutes or so. Then you just toss with the arugula and cheese and some olive oil and it’s good to go. The flavor combination is incredible. This one’s going into heavy rotation–it’s really easy, complex, and it borders on fancy, something I don’t always get to pull off. The only catch with this one is that it’s only going to taste this good during strawberry season.

Finally, the Jerusalem artichoke dish that I’ve already made a handful of times. This time I also added the mushrooms I got at the market, which only made the dish earthier and more complex.

I can’t believe I didn’t know about this funny looking vegetable sooner! The HTCE project keeps on giving.

So that was it: wine, food, family. What else is there?

Below, this week’s Idiot Convention Today Show clip. Bittman shows how to ball out and make 5 meals from 10 ingredients, plus pantry staples. Meredith and David seem really confused by this concept, and our man has to spend about half the segment explaining the basic concept to them, but he pulls out a real win in the end.

What’s really worth watching, as usual, is a Times clip from last week about steaming.

Steaming [nytimes video]
5 Meals, 10 Ingredients [Bitten blog]

Remember the Spicy Grilled Shrimp that came out pretty tasty and perfectly cooked but way way WAY too salty? Well, the flavor beneath all the salt was really quite good, and so I decided to try that recipe with some squid that I had in the freezer (like shrimp, squid freezes really well). You just combine lemon juice, olive oil, paprika, cayenne, a mashed clove of garlic and some salt–not too much–and marinate the squid in it. I also added a little bit of pimenton (smoked paprika), which didn’t hurt. Grill it up, and you’re good to go.

Serve with some lemon wedges. This could really work with any meat or vegetables, but goes especially well with all kinds of seafood. Give it a shot–even cleaned squid is pretty cheap and really quick to cook. Not enough people think to make it at home–I never did before I started the project, and now it’s become standard.

Spring is here, bigtime. I was psyched about the first signs of it at the greenmarket, with ramps and green garlic and then the asparagus, such delicious asparagus! But now the strawberries are out and we’re really in full swing. This meal, from right before my trip to New Orleans, felt like a climax of the early spring period. Almost everything came from the greenmarket, and it was all delicious.

For the salad, I sauteed a bunch of ramps in olive oil and a tiny bit of butter, starting with the ramps and then adding the greens at the last second. Threw it on top of some lettuce, with olive oil, balsamic vingegar, black pepper, and some parmesan cheese. Keep it simple, you know? You don’t need to do a lot when you have really great produce. This was in now way a HTCE recipe, per se, but I think Bittman would approve.

With the asparagus, I made Bittman’s Stir-Fried Asparagus. Basically, you cut the asparagus into bite size pieces and just barely cook by steaming it (I did it in the microwave), then add it to a pan with some hot oil, garlic, chiles (I used sriracha), soy sauce, a bit of water, and a bit of sesame oil. I’m sure you could add whatever else you feel like here, and indeed Bittman has a list following the recipe with seven different ideas for stir-frying asparagus, including fermented black beans (yum) and chopped nuts.

All in all, I wasn’t so crazy about this method of cooking asparagus, but I think that may be because I cooked them too much during the steaming process. I will probably try this again to see if that’s the case.

Along with that, there was the How to Cook Everything recipe for Crisp-Cooked Sunchokes, which at the market they call Jerusalem Artichokes; Bittman says they’re the same thing. They look a little like a spiky potato, and they taste like the lovechild of a potato and an artichoke. For this recipe, you chop them up and cook them in a pan with a little oil, as if they were hash browns. They have a sweet, artichoke-ish flavor, but they behave a lot like potatoes (they’re great roasted as well).

I burned them a little, but it only made them taste better. In the last minute, you throw in some chopped shallot, onion, or garlic. I went with shallot, which in retrospect was the right choice.

Have you ever heard of green garlic? It’s one of the best parts of early spring. It looks kind of like an overgrown scallion, but it smells and tastes like garlic, with a much lighter, sweeter flavor.

Basically, you can use loads of it, substitute it for both the onion and the garlic in a recipe, but it never really gets all garlicky and scary like it would if you used too much regular garlic. Great stuff. I used it in the Linguine with Clams recipe, which is easy and pretty impressive, I might add. You just throw some clams, maybe like three pounds or so though you can get away with using less (cockles are fine) into a pot with some hot oil til they start to open up and release their juices. That’s basically the whole sauce right there, it’s pretty light but very tasty.

And that was our early spring feast. Sure, I’ll miss the ramps, but I’ll get over it with the help of delicious fresh strawberries. Don’t look back, you know?

OK, OK, I promise a return to regular posting by the end of this week, I swear. But I must digress once more, for this week’s dining section features a profile of a personal hero of mine: Zach Brooks, he of Midtown Lunch. This is a site so powerful, so well curated and written, that it has me thinking midtown isn’t actually a wasteland at all; I eat really well here now that I know where to look. Since I started working in midtown last year, Brooks has led me to virtually all of my favorite spots: Hing Won, the street meat guys on 53rd and 6th, Margon, the Jamaican Dutchy cart, and the list goes on. On top of that, he settled the confusion over said halal cart (long story), and he also blogs for Serious Eats: New York. Show the man some love by surfing over to midtownlunch.com. The link to the article is below.

Midtown Lunch [website]
A Tour Guide Tames Lunch in Midtown [nytimes]

Sorry it’s been slow around here–I was away all last week in the culinary wonderland that is New Orleans. Below are a few of the pictures I took–if you’re interested, there are a bunch more on my flickr page, accessible with a beautiful stripped down interface here.

New Orleans photoset [ihardlyknowher]

So, this recipe was one of the most full flavored, complex, rich and satisfying ones I have made so far. But overall, I think they’re a little too fatty for my taste. I’d like to try the same recipe with a different cut of meat, maybe, because the combination of star anise, ginger, nam pla, carrots, potatoes, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sugar did really magical things.

This recipe is a variation on Short Ribs Braised with Mustard and Potatoes, and I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to include the potatoes or not; I decided to use them after all because it seemed like it’d make the dish more substantial, so why not? It didn’t say to omit them outright, but the variation does sort of just ignore them. I was glad I included them, but I’m still not sure if I was supposed to.

Served it with the Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette from before.

Call this one Salty Grilled Shrimp, because that’s what I ended up with. The recipe itself is close to foolproof. The marinade (lemon juice, olive oil, paprika, cayenne, a mashed clove of garlic and a tablespoon of salt) could probably be used with any kind of meat or veggie, and it’s really fast.

However, I used a little less shrimp than Bittman recommends, which wouldn’t be a problem if I hadn’t used the entire tablespoon of salt. But I forgot to adjust, and the shrimp were so incredibly salty that my brother would only take seconds after rinsing his shrimp off. Which probably didn’t work anyway.

Basically, this recipe is golden, especially served with a little salad and some lemon wedges. It tastes like spring.

Also, there was grilled asparagus, which can also be done roasted or broiled, and are delicious no matter what. And in season! Don’t sleep on them. Check out the links below for up to date info on what’s at the Greenmarket.

Lucy’s Greenmarket Report
Greenmarket Report blog

Bittman’s on fire in this week’s Minimalist column, which does double duty as the Dining section’s cover story. The focus is the freezer, and Bittman thinks that you’re doing it wrong. And he has a point:

If I tried to sell you a new appliance that could help you save money, reduce food waste and get meals on the table faster, the only thing you’d ask would be “How much?”

The answer is “Nothing.” You already own it. For just as the stove comes with a hidden and often overlooked bonus — the broiler — so does the refrigerator: the freezer. Why not use it?

I know: you do. In that messy box you have some ice cubes, some stuff you bought frozen — a pizza? Lean Gourmet? peas? — and maybe, if you cook a lot, some stock or hastily stored leftovers. You also have a load of things you’ve already forgotten about and will eventually toss, even though you would have been guilt-struck if you had discarded them when they were fresh.

But if you conscientiously use the freezer in two ways, you’ll value it as never before. The first: take raw ingredients you have too much of — or whose life you simply wish to prolong — and freeze them. The second: take things you’ve already cooked — basics like stock, beans, grains and the like, or fully cooked dishes — and freeze them.

The thing is worth a read, full of helpful factoids (freezers are more efficient the more jam packed they are) and tips that range from the unexpected (cover pesto with a layer of olive oil to prevent freezer burn) to the obvious yet often overlooked (label your stuff, because fish stock looks like chicken stock looks like lemon juice once it’s frozen).

And! Don’t forget to check out the related post on Bittman’s blog Bitten, where the comments section is bursting with even more ideas for maximizing the use you get from your freezer. I like this one:

In cool months, I regularly make a big batch of steel cut oatmeal , then spread it on a cookie sheet, freeze, cut it into serving size rectangles, and take them to work where I microwave them for breakfast. Quick, easy, and much better than instant.

Leave your own ideas over there, or in the comments below.

Oh, and also worth a read: Harold McGee’s fascinating piece about asparagus.

Freeze That Thought [nytimes]
The Freezer (Comments) Section [Bitten blog]
Asparagus’ Breaking Point [nytimes]